1st snow!!!

Today...the first snow...of the season...hit Williston. I have been here since April 30th and this is my first snow in Williston. And it already got down to around 10 degrees last night. The rest of the week won't be warmer either. But aside from the weather, I'd like to share with you something I have learned lately.

The last week of October, we had a conference with about 50-60 missionaries. We had a visitor at this conference. Elder Marcus B. Nash, of the seventy, came to address us and train us, and it was a fantastic experience. I want to mention something that his wife taught us, though. Sister Nash talked about the importance of a vision, meaning something to work towards. She gave us the following image: You are out rowing a boat in the middle of the ocean, and you do not see land. How long are you going to stay motivated? You'll probably want to drown yourself. What happens if you can see land in the distance. A little more motivation. How about an island a few hundred feet from you. Then you will be very motivated. I thought about this a lot, and I also saw a parallel to covenants. Our ultimate vision is eternal life in the presence of our Heavenly Father. He has given us other things along the way, however, to set our vision on. The first is probably baptism. I have noticed that the knowledge of baptism truly gives people greater motivation to progress in living the gospel. For those who have already been baptized, the temple gives them a vision. For those who have gone to the temple, a temple marriage gives us something to look forward to. After that, we work to keep our families strong and to prepare together to enter the Kingdom of God. We can also be motivated as we see our children and grandchildren working towards baptism, temple covenants, and temple marriage. AND, every week, we all have the sacrament as a time to renew our commitment and refresh our covenants. We can even look forward every day to account to our Father in prayer how we lived our lives that day. Without a vision and checkpoints along the way, we would be lost, and it would be pointless to try to stay motivated to live the gospel. Eternal life, made possible through Jesus Christ, is our vision, and it gives us the hope we need to move forward. Do everything you can to gain faith in Christ's true gospel so that you can have a vision of your purpose in life. The whole message of the scriptures, the entirety of what God wants and needs us to know, is that the Atonement of Jesus Christ makes it possible for us and our families to become more like the Father through making and keeping covenants. These sacred covenants must be bound through ordinances performed by the Holy Priesthood of God, found in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This gospel, and nothing else, will lead us to everlasting life and exaltation. God's whole work is to bring this message to all of humankind and redeem them from their lost and fallen state. This is why I am choosing to take two years to serve the Lord. I know that He lives and has mercifully reached out to us through scriptures, the gift of prayer, and His Church organization led by a prophet. I testify to all that He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, as part of His perfect plan, to save the world. I promise you that anything unfair in your life does not go unnoticed by your Father. He desperately wants to bless you and make things right. So live the gospel, and let His grace enter your soul.

Another 6 weeks in Williston!!!

This week I want to share a part of my letter to my Mission President, because I had a great week. Also, check out the sunrise from this morning!

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Ok, here it is:

"There are a couple of experiences in particular that have touched me this week. The first is with a young man who Elder Sullivan actually knew in Hurricane, UT. His parents have lived here for a while, but he just moved in right before Elder Sullivan got here. He has made bad choices regarding the word of wisdom, but has a desire to change. We invited him to come out with us, then we had the opportunity to teach him once about the doctrine of repentance and another time about the plan of salvation. He has a copy of Preach My Gospel, he set up an appointment with Bishop Packer, and he has told us and his parents that he has decided for certain to go on a mission. I feel great joy in seeing him repent! The second experience is Michael. I think I've told you about him being picked up broken down on the side of the road by a member, having health issues that kept him from work; in short, going through unfavorable circumstances yet being guided to us. He was baptized on Saturday, and it was amazing. We told him to think of all the guilt and negative feelings from his past when he stepped into the water. He did, and he told us that He could feel the relief that I know comes from the Atonement. We saw him last night, and that was the first time, at least that I remember, when I could literally perceive a change because of the gift of the Holy Ghost. Up to the baptism, we noticed mighty changes in him. This was from the power of The Book of Mormon, church, prayer, etc. But, there was a real difference in countenance and outlook after the baptism and confirmation. He ended the lesson with a beautiful prayer; perhaps the most sincere I have ever heard. It sounded as if he were right there at his Father's feet. I have learned so much from Michael and his conversion."

Miracles do happen.

My letter this week will focus on amazing experiences that have fortified my faith that God lives and that this is His work that I am carrying out with His divine help.

First of all, let me share with you an experience I had on wednesday. This is taken from my weekly letter to my Mission President:

"...I would tell you one more story from my exchange with Elder Gruver. It was about 8:45 and we had nothing else planned, so we went to knock some doors (honestly, I probably would have just driven home). We knocked half a block with one great door slam, yet no other success. It was 9 by the time we knocked the block, but we decided that we had to go to one more house. I saw one more block down, in a cul-de-sac, an open garage with a man busy at work inside. I told Elder Gruver, "we are going to go help them with something." So we went and offered help to his wife who was out front. She said no and did not seem interested by anything else. She had met with missionaries before. Then her husband called, "HEY! Are you two free labor?" We were excited and knew that this is what we were looking for. I talked to the wife for a minute about temples and eternal families, then I joined Elder Gruver in helping the man push a very large, metal shop cabinet across his garage. Then we addressed the couple and their teenage daughter. We explained our missions a little bit, prayed, then went over the restoration briefly. It seemed that we answered concerns they had previously developed about The Book of Mormon, and we were able to testify that it was not a chance meeting. We helped with another service project for them the next night, and we will return tomorrow night to teach them. By the way, the man has recently had a change of schedule which gives him weekends off, and they were unimpressed by the New Hope church because of their focus on money and their new in-church coffee shop. We know that we were guided to that street at that time and that the Lord blessed us for diligence..."

The next day, we had another amazing experience. A man from the Church here stopped and helped a man on the side of the road. He has had serious health problems that have hospitalized him and kept him from work, making his time more available. He has been reflecting on life and having many regrets, yearning for a chance to change. On Thursday, we visited him in the church member's home. As we talked about our basic doctrines, he expressed his desires to change and his disappointment with his life to this point. Our conversation shifted to baptism, and the Spirit caused emotions in him that I'm sure he could not explain, because he apologized for his tears. When we invited him to follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized by someone holding the authority of God, he hesitated none to accept November 1st as his baptismal date.

Two nights later, Elder Sullivan (My companion) and I were out of people to visit around 8 o'clock. We had no real idea of what to do. I asked him to say a prayer to ask for guidance, so he did. In what felt like a random choice, we headed off to a nearby trailer park. We were rejected by one man, then we dropped off our bikes. I took out a Plan of Salvation pamphlet from my backpack, and I told Elder Sullivan that I felt like we needed to use it. We started walking, we knocked on a couple doors, which proved to be interactions for the purpose of delaying us, because when we started walking again, we heard a door open off to our side. We turned to it and started walking. We introduced ourselves briefly, then I asked, "Has anyone close to you passed away recently?" He told us that his dad had 4 years ago, and it had caused many family problems. We testified that we were there to tell him what happened to his father after he died. We prayed with him, talked about the purpose of life and the Atonement of Jesus Christ, and testified that he could be sealed to his father forever because of the restored gospel. He committed to continue learning from us about this message.

The next night, which was last night, our Mission President came into town and wanted to go out to work with us. We tried to visit 2 people, one who had an appointment with us, but both fell through. Again, we wondered what to do. I asked President Anderson to say a prayer for guidance. He prayed that we could find someone with concerns that we could answer. After the prayer, he asked if our ward leaders wanted us to visit anyone. Someone very specific came to mind. We did not see that person last night, but I know it was inspired because it took us the right direction. As we looked for their home, I noticed a man sitting alone outside. I asked if the other two saw him, and they said no. But, I said that we should turn around and talk to him. President Anderson sent us out to ask him for directions, but we ended up talking about the gospel, because he had a cross around his neck. He said we could spend some time with him, so we beckoned to our Mission President to join. We prayed together and started to talk about his religious background. We learned more about his life, and he said that he moved up here because of a nasty break-up caused by his anger issues. We testified that we could help with that. Then, his sister joined us outside and we had a discussion about The Book of Mormon. They both want to learn more, so we are going to send the sisters back on Tuesday.

I bear my testimony to all of you that Our Father in Heaven is a God of miracles. He has the power to bless us and those we meet because of our diligent efforts. He wants us to work hard in the service of others, and the best service we can give is to declare the glad tidings of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Therefore, He guides us and directs us and grants us success when we put our heart into His service. I promise that you can find God's guidance and influence in your life if you are willing to act in faith. He loves you as a perfect and all-knowing Father. I testify that He sent His Son Jesus Christ and that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the organized body that holds the authority of God to teach, baptize, confirm, and seal families together for all eternity. I know that The Book of Mormon is holy scripture that does not add to or take from the Bible. It is not the work of men, but it is the word of God. God is free to speak to us, and to say that He stopped giving us His word with the limits of the Bible is to place on him restrictions with no doctrinal foundation He will continue to speak to us and work miracles. This Church and the large missionary movement of over 85,000 full-time missionaries is the "Marvelous work" and the "wonder" spoken of by the prophet Isaiah in chapter 29 of the book. The angel spoken of by John in Revelation has sounded his trump and spread the everlasting gospel over all the earth. This message is a message to happiness and truth. It is not designed to take anything away from you but to add to your faith in Christ, even to complete it, that you may be filled with joy and peace.

 

Isaiah 29:13-14

13 ¶Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:

 14 Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.

Revelation 14: 6-7

 6 And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,

 7 Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.

Mormon 9: 7-10, 15, 20

 7 And again I speak unto you who deny the revelations of God, and say that they are done away, that there are no revelations, nor prophecies, nor gifts, nor healing, nor speaking with tongues, and the interpretation of tongues;

 8 Behold I say unto you, he that denieth these things knoweth not the gospel of Christ; yea, he has not read the scriptures; if so, he does not understand them.

 9 For do we not read that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and in him there is no variableness neither shadow of changing?

 10 And now, if ye have imagined up unto yourselves a god who doth vary, and in whom there is shadow of changing, then have ye imagined up unto yourselves a god who is not a God of miracles.

 15 And now, O all ye that have imagined up unto yourselves a god who can do no miracles, I would ask of you, have all these things passed, of which I have spoken? Has the end come yet? Behold I say unto you, Nay; and God has not ceased to be a God of miracles.

 20 And the reason why he ceaseth to do miracles among the children of men is because that they dwindle in unbelief, and depart from the right way, and know not the God in whom they should trust.

Still here in North Dakota!

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This past week was another transfer week, and I'm safe here in North Dakota. That means I will be here at least a total of 5 1/2 months! Here is a picture of an oil rig, in case you were curious. Most of them are at least a few miles from town, but this one is actually pretty close to our church building. I heard some cool history about the oil industry recently, beginning in the times of the great depression. There was a man who owned many grocery stores throughout the North Dakota area, and during the depression, he would give free groceries to farmers in the area in exchange for their mineral rights. Now that the oil industry is so huge, his grandchildren are being rewarded for his kind deed. He had no practical use for the mineral rights, but he made the trade anyway for the good of society. What a cool piece of history. 

I would like to briefly address a problem that we face as humans. There are many sources trying to define success for us. We often feel pressures from those we associate with to fulfill their desires in order for us to be successful. There is only one source that, without fail, wants for us what will give us the most happiness that we can have. God does not promise us wealth, popularity, approval from our leaders, or freedom from challenges and trials. He does promise us eternal life, however, if we are faithful in living the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Our Father sent a Savior to us to show us the way to live now and to make possible infinite peace and joy in the life to come by paying our way into the Kingdom of God, into which no sin can enter. In the Church, we hope that our leaders always want the best for us, but even they are far from perfect. Sometimes in our efforts to follow the counsel of our leaders, or bosses, or teachers, or counsellors, or even parents at times, we forget the ultimately more important priority to seek and live the will of God for our lives. It may be the strictest and require much self discipline, but it does not put unnecessary pressure or stress on us. It is important to trust those that have been put in our lives to instruct us and direct us, but we must remember that their influence and authority cannot and will not ever overpower God's merciful hand, which He so lovingly and patiently extends to us. His invitation is to repent and be baptized, with faith in His Son,  which pattern of life will never fail to give us true and lasting success; Real success that does not give us worldly status or recognition but that makes us perfectly and permanently clean in the eyes of Our Creator. John 14:1-6, 15-27 (KJV):

 1 Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.

 2 In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.

 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

 4 And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.

 5 Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?

 6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

 

15 ¶If ye love me, keep my commandments.

 16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;

 17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.

 18 I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.

 19 Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also.

 20 At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.

 21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.

 22 Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?

 23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

 24 He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me.

 25 These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you.

 26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.

 27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

I have to let everyone know that this has been an amazing week! I am willing to make the statement that the last few days have been the most dramatically uplifting days of my life. Looking back, I can see that I have been struggling for several weeks but that I have been too naive to notice it. Sometimes we get the impression that we are doing better than we actually are. We look at all the things that are going right and that are right about us, but then we fail to grow and progress. On the other hand, if we focus only on what we are doing wrong, we become discouraged and depressed. One of the tricks of life is finding the balance of rejoicing in success and learning from failure. A key to this is recognizing the source of our blessings. If you think back to the times when you have been rescued or saved by being able to recognize a failure in yourself and then having the strength to overcome it, you will notice that it wasn't anything special that you did. God reaches out to us through many sources. Maybe you have felt this through scriptures, parents, friends, even feelings that you get when you pray. It could come through church, siblings, children, or anything else you can imagine. I know that we can be happier if we recognize this one truth:

"It is by the grace of God that we discover our weaknesses; it is by the grace of God that we have the strength to overcome them; it is by the grace of God that we receive any blessing in life, even if and especially when that blessing is simply the gift of life. All that we can and must do is accept God's will for us and be willing to make the changes that His grace offers us the possibility of making."

If you don't think you need God, your life will be a dull, repetitive life. Everybody has ups and downs, but God has provided us with the way to lasting success. In order to really achieve anything worthwhile in life, we must look to Jesus Christ. I testify that we will stand before God at the last day, and our worthiness will be determined by one thing, and one thing only. That is our spiritual preparedness. All that we do and have to make ourselves feel worth something will disappear upon death. The only thing that will clothe our vulnerability and unworthiness before God is our discipleship of the Lord Jesus Christ. The entertainment we seek, recreation, careers, education, physical stature, strength, abilities, talents; anything measurable to the human eye will vanish when we come into the presence of God, and we will stand naked of anything but the desires of our hearts and our works (see Revelation 20: 12-13, KJV, quoted below). There is a common belief throughout the world that by grace alone we are saved, and that works don't matter. The first part is absolutely true, but works are necessary. Works do not matter because they show superiority or because we believe we can save ourselves through works. Works matter for one reason. They are the evidence that we have allowed God into our life and let His grace change us. They show that we have not shut Him out, but that we have opened our hearts and our lives to Him.

The importance of serving God is urgent. Because I know that we will be judged before God and that nothing ungodly can dwell in His Kingdom, I know that without being changed by grace and living the gospel as evidence of this transformation, we will certainly not be prepared to meet Him, much less to live with Him. We will not feel comfortable in His presence, because the only feelings that exist in Heaven are the same feelings that result from living close to Him here. If His grace has changed you and converted you, you will be able to know. You will sincerely desire to do good. You will look forward to activities such as prayer, scripture study, church, offering service to others, and anything else spiritual. If you experience such changes, you will not be able to deny God's power (see Moroni 10: 32-33, quoted below). If you read this and say, I am just not like that, you might be right. But, you can be. Follow the advice of Moroni and come unto Christ. I strongly urge you to do so, because it is truly the only thing of eternal significance. Make God a priority; prepare to meet Him by exercising faith in Christ and repenting. Further that by being baptized and receiving the Holy Ghost, then live a life as a disciple of Christ. It is infinitely rewarding to live this gospel as taught simply in the New Testament of the Bible, The Book of Mormon, and God's authorized servants and leaders of His Church Today.

Revelation 20: 12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

 13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.

Moroni 10: 32 Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God.

 33 And again, if ye by the grace of God are perfect in Christ, and deny not his power, then are ye sanctified in Christ by the grace of God, through the shedding of the blood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the Father unto the remission of your sins, that ye become holy, without spot.

Happy 4th!!

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July!! I did! We received special permission from our Mission President to stay out and watch fireworks. We had a great evening with one of the families from the Church here. We started with a dinner from KFC and it went from there. There was also another couple there, one of which was baptized just in May. We were able to talk to both families about how they can share the gospel with those they care about. Then we had fun with fireworks! I can't say I thought a lot about the true meaning of the holiday, but I'd like to talk about it now. To me, it means that God has provided a place for us to have religious freedom. Of course there are many other freedoms that come from living in the US, but that is the one that provides the most lasting effect in our lives. It is the one that allows us to make a difference in what happens after we die. Because we can worship God how we see fit in this country, we need not worry about what is going to happen in the next life. We can learn about Jesus Christ and Our Father in Heaven. We are free to practice our faith and live the gospel with no worries about legal restrictions. That is such a huge blessing, because as I have learned to live the teachings and follow the example of my Savior, I have gained a confidence in my personal relationship with God. I do not worry about what is true or how I need to live my life. There are always doubts, but I have a sense of direction, and I trust the Lord to guide my life as I turn to Him. The future is in His hands. I hope you can all take advantage of the blessing of living in this country. A prophet foretold of this in The Book of Mormon, which was written on this land in ancient times and has come to us to confirm and clarify the doctrines taught in the Holy Bible. Jacob was one of the first prophets on this land around 550 B.C. He wrote:

" But behold, this land, said God, shall be a land of thine inheritance, and the Gentiles shall be blessed upon the land. And this land shall be a land of liberty unto the Gentiles, and there shall be no kings upon the land, who shall raise up unto the Gentiles. And I will fortify this land against all other nations. And he that fighteth against Zion shall perish, saith God. For he that raiseth up a king against me shall perish, for I, the Lord, the king of heaven, will be their king, and I will be a light unto them forever, that hear my words."

-2 Nephi 10:11-14

If you feel that you lack "light" in your life and you need a better vision of the future, turn to the Lord and serve Him. It is no wonder to me that those who place more priority on careers, fashion, entertainment, recreation, etc. than on God lack a sense of real purpose to their life. A life not headed by God will certainly lead to doubt, eventually if not immediately. We can be confident that we will have success in our careers and all aspects of our lives if we put Him first. He cares about our needs first, but our wants as well. He knows we want to be happy, and He will show us how to achieve that. But, true and lasting happiness will only come with self-sacrifice. I have learned that to be true as I have lived and observed others. It is clear to me the Jesus Christ is the only 100% unfailing foundation for our lives.

Safe in Williston.

I'll make this a short post. I will be in Williston for at least 6 more weeks and I love it! I'd like to explain some mission organization. We have the mission, which is about 200 or so missionaries in an area. That is led by a Mission President who is usually old enough to have grown children. Then, we have about 5-10 zones in each mission. Two Elders (young male missionaries) lead each zone. Within each zone, divided by area, are 3-5 districts, each led by one Elder. Then, within each district, each pair (companionship) of missionaries covers a specific area. This picture is of the missionaries in the Williston district.

I love the mission organization. It allows information to be passed down effectively, and it provides a great support system. This is how Christ commanded His servants to work. 

Luke 10:1-3:

 1 After these things the Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come.

 2 Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest.

 3 Go your ways: behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves.

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